h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Declawing Cats - A24976056
Author: SWL™ - U1775547

Might need some help with this one as I'm still quite angry. I've tried to be dry and clinical to a degree.

I had a sneaking suspicion this one would be by you.

How do you know whether the cat experiences excruciating pain or just plain pain or maybe terrible pain? Even doctors ask patients to use scales of 1 - 10 to describe pain for them because they couldn't know otherwise. And you know how doctors tend to think they're God.

>>Whilst recuperating from the operation, a cat's instincts will influence its behaviour. In the wild, any sign of weakness might invite attack, so the cat will not display visible signs of pain but the severity of the procedure ensures that the cat will be in considerable discomfort for weeks.

- well, if the cat won't display the signs, how do we know?
I believe it, of course, but what's the evidence?



Questions:

why would someone want to declaw a cat?

Are there any alternatives, like cutting the nails?

Well, for a start vets are trained for longer in order to interpret symptoms precisely because they can't just ask the patient

How strong do you think the pain would be if I amputated your feet and told you to walk around on the stumps without painkillers? On a scale of 1-10.

Having said that, I accept what you say about proof. The difficulty is, do I just quote a vet?

Reasons for declawing is a good idea and I should put a section in.

Well, I don't know. Women used to do something similar in China - maybe you could ask them? I'm just questioning the qualifier to "pain", since you were worried about being objective. But if a qualified vet tells you it's "excruciating", I suppose I might trust him.

But I assume there must be some evidence to suggest that the cats are in pain even if they don't show it. Does touching their toes gently produce a yowl? Do they try to avoid walking? Anything at all?

You're right of course. It's not enough to accept it as a given. I need to do some research in order to say "According to the Royal Society of ...." for instance.

Exactemundo.

...oh, and do make sure you don't end up saying "According to PETA..." because that's not much better.

I think you ought to be *more* strident, personally. If you don't want to put up with some degree of destruction around the house, don't have a cat, period.

It reminds me of a story I was told at our local RSPCA when I went to get my cats. They said a woman brought her cat in because its colour 'didn't go with the new wallpaper'.

I have to agree with FM.
There's a fine line between registering disgust at an abominable practice and a rant but I believe you are capable of differentiating, SWL: just present the facts and don't hold back.

GB

I agree too - a cat is for life and all that.

it's not just indoor cats, btw, which have to scratch about to go to the loo. All cats have to scratch at something, but I imagine that litter is more painful for declawed cats than sand or earth.

Scratching posts - well, not all cats use them, and you should have more than one, so the cat has a bit of variety. (and you can make your own out of old carpet and bits of wood, etc). A lot of people i know give up with the scratching post because... well, you have to train the cat to use it. And training cats is about as easy as herding them. Every single time you catch your cat scratching where you don't want him to scratch, you have to take him to the post, put his feet on it and show him the clawing action.

Every time.

It's taken me a while, but Pippin the Wonder Cat generally uses his scratching posts rather than my furniture (which is mostly rubbish anyway)


this needs to be said. Often and loud.

The article on Training Your Pet (A464799) has quite a good section on training cats not to scratch the furniture, so you might want to link to that.
Ekaterin.

Done

Hi SWL,
An excellent article, well done. As others have said, so long as its not a personal rant then yes, be very clear and outspoken on this. Its a barbaric act and anyone advocating such a thing needs showing just how painful it can be. Perhaps having their fingernails and toenails removed with a pair of pliers might convince them just how painfull removing cats claws are.


I avoided the thread where this was originally brought up, my reply to the original poster would more than likely have been yikesed anyway.</>

Again, well done, great article.

Very good Entry though



'It is a procedure banned or considered inhumane in many countries around the world including the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand and Poland.'

I think you should make it clear in which countries the procedure is actually banned. The problem with 'considered inhumane' is that it is hard to measure, really. For example, those people I've spoken too in France find it a disgusting practise, but I don't know about the opinion of the man in the street.



'Unfortunately, it is quite rare to find trees in the home which a cat can use...'

This seems a little bit awkward to me. At first sight it looks like you wrote: 'Reasons To Declaw A Cat - Unfortunately, it is quite rare'. Of course the rest of the sentence (and of the whole Entry) is unequivocal.



In countries where it is allowed: is it legal for a vet to refuse declawing a ? If so, do many of them refuse indeed? (I can't imagine my vet in France doing that for instance.)

Good questions, I'll look into them.

There are quite a few points where the Entry gets clunky. I'll address that too.

I found this abstract at PubMed - hope it's not modded. Guess you can find the article via a library.
1: J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2000 Sep 1;217(5):685-90.
Subjective and objective measurements of postoperative pain in cats.
Cambridge AJ, Tobias KM, Newberry RC, Sarkar DK.
Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman 99164, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the ability of various subjective and objective measurements to determine the presence and degree of postoperative pain in cats. DESIGN: Randomized controlled prospective clinical study. ANIMALS: 18 healthy client-owned cats. PROCEDURE: Cats were randomly assigned to 3 groups of 6: control, tenectomy, and onychectomy. Jugular catheters were placed the day prior to surgery. All surgeries were performed by the same surgeon, and all observations were made by the same blinded trained observer. One hour prior to surgery and at assigned intervals for 36 hours after surgery, heart rate, respiratory rate, and rectal temperature were measured. Scores were assigned for 3 interaction responses, including response to palpation, by use of simple descriptive scales, and to 2 pain assessments by use of visual analogue scales. Blood was collected to measure plasma beta-endorphin and cortisol concentrations. Butorphanol was administered to all cats before surgery and to any cat subjectively assessed to be experiencing pain after surgery. RESULTS: Only visual analogue scale scores and response to palpation scores differed significantly between control and surgical groups. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Determination of the presence of pain in cats can be made on the basis of observation and interaction by a trained observer. Physiologic measurements, including plasma cortisol and beta-endorphin concentrations, did not differentiate between control cats and cats that underwent surgery.

Is it just me, or is that not clear-cut?

What does palpation mean?

This is from a lecture of a vet published at a uni site "Onychectomy in the feline patient"

Complications:
Bleeding
Pain
Pad laceration
Infection
Claw re-growth
P2 protrusion.
Palmargrade stance
Lameness
Neuropraxia (6-8 weeks)
Ischemic necrosis (bandage)

http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB/Proceedings/PR05000/PR00016.htm
is a summary of scientific studies done on declawing.

Hope this can be of any help.

Palpation means touching e.g exmining with your hands.

Lots of things here I didn't know. It's all a bit horrifying really, what well intentioned people might do to their cats without realising - especially with that bit about cats not showing pain.

Can I suggest actually listing not having a cat as an alternative solution for anyone that can't handle the scratches and can't manage the training? Because I do think that's the choice and even though it's obvious it could do with stating.

It might also make a good rounding-off conclusion to the entry. It ends a little abruptly as it is.